ISLAMABAD: The Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday issued overflight schedules for two Taiwanese airlines till March 27, even as Aviation Minister Khawaja Asif claimed these airlines had been barred from flying over Pakistan.

The CAA issued schedules for China Airlines and Eva Airways covering Oct 28, 2026, to Mar 27, 2027, according to documents seen by Dawn.

A diplomatic source said overflight permissions for both airlines had been extended.

Similarly, a source in the CAA said the authority had not issued any NOTAM (notice to airmen) announcing a ban on these airlines.

The CAA official referred the matter to the Foreign Office to ascertain whether any policy decision had been taken, but the diplomatic source denied any such development.

The confusion followed a Bloomberg report quoting Khawaja Asif as saying Pakistan had allowed only mainland Chinese airlines to fly over its territory in line with the One-China policy.

While Mr Asif did not respond to a Dawn query, Bloomberg later updated its report to reflect the granting of overflight permission.

Citing flight-tracking data from Flightradar24, the outlet reported that China Airlines and Eva Airways had not flown over Pakistan since Oct 25.

At least a dozen flights operated by the two carriers between Asia and Europe had been routed over Russia since Sunday, it said.

Although Beijing routinely pressures its diplomatic partners to restrict Taiwanese airlines’ airspace access, carriers such as China Airlines and Eva Airways operate direct flights between Taiwan and the mainland.

Pakistan maintains close political and military ties with China and does not recognise Taiwan as a separate state, but Taiwanese airlines have used Pakistani airspace for routes to Europe.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2026